Thanksgiving game will make or break season

IRVING – Today’s victory was sweet for the Cowboys. Tony Romo was outstanding – again – and the defense finally did something worth bragging about.

Lose Thursday and it all goes down the drain.

In 2003, the Cowboys defeated the Carolina Panthers 24-20 in the game before Thanksgiving to improve their record to 8-3. Four days later, the Cowboys laid an egg against the Miami Dolphins, losing 40-21 to a team that didn’t make the playoffs.

The loss, coupled with a 36-10 defeat in Philadelphia the following week, ruined the team’s confidence and set the Cowboys up for a first-round playoff loss to the Panthers.

Thursday will tell a lot about this team’s maturity. The yo-yo season must stup. The Bucs aren’t a good team. Playoffs teams don’t lose to bad teams.

Report card

Rush offense: The Cowboys ran 36 times for 117 yards in an attempt to shorten the game and keep the Colts offense off the field. Julius Jones had only 79 yards, but he gained 52 in the second half when the Cowboys outscored the Colts 21-7. The 15-play, 68-yard drive that resulted in Marion Barber’s first of two TD runs featured 12 running plays, including nine by Jones. Barber recorded his second-multi TD game of the season. He is now tied for third in the league with nine rushing TDs. Barber’s total are the most by a Dallas back since Emmitt Smith had nine during the 2000 season. Grade: B

Pass offense: Romo completed 18 of 23 for 226 yards and made all the big throws. The quick slant to Terry Glenn in the second half was unstoppable in the second half. Grade: B

Rush defense: The Colts managed just 88 yards on 23 attempts for a 3.8 average. Nose tackle Jason Ferguson clogged the middle and forced the Colts to go outside, where DeMarcus Ware, Akin Ayodele and the other linebackers smothered Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai. Ayodele finished with a team-high eight tackles. Grade: A.

Pass defense: Roy Williams and Kevin Burnett recorded interceptions, Ware and Jay Ratliff recorded sacks and the front seven hurried Peyton Manning on several throws. Grade A

Special teams: The Cowboys are lucky Mike Vanderjagt didn’t cost them the game. He missed field goal attempts of 43 and 46 yards against his former team and would be cut if Bill Parcells could find an alternative. Grade: D

Coaching: Parcells made his team believe the Colts were beatable and Mike Zimmer did a great job disguising the defense’s coverages: Grade: A

Overall: The Cowboys beat the NFL’s last unbeaten team, with the defense, Romo and Glenn making all the clutch plays. Grade: A